iBooks: Viewing, syncing, saving, and printing PDFs on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Summary

With iBooks 1.2 and iTunes 10.1 or later, you have the ability to view, sync, and print PDFs right to your device. You can even view PDF e-mail attachments or PDFs from Safari, all within iBooks.

Notes: 

  • iBooks 1.2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch requires iOS 4.2 or later.
  • Viewing PDFs from Safari in iBooks requires iOS 4.2 or later. 
  • Printing PDFs requires iOS 4.2 or later.

Products Affected

iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (2nd generation), iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iTunes

Opening PDFs with iBooks

You can open PDF documents, such as a PDF attached to an email, with iBooks. When you view a PDF email attachment, simply tap "Open in iBooks," located in the upper-right corner of the screen. iBooks will open and you'll be able to view your PDF using the iBooks app.

When you use iBooks to open a PDF, iBooks will automatically save a copy of the PDf to your iBooks PDF shelf. These PDFs will also sync back to your iTunes Book library the next time you sync your device with iTunes.

Syncing and saving PDFs 

To add PDFs to your iTunes library on your computer, simply drag and drop the PDF into your iTunes Book library.

To sync a PDF to iBooks on your device:

  1. Select your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in the Devices list on the left in iTunes 10.1 or later.
  2. Click the Books tab in the resulting window.
  3. Ensure that the Sync Books checkbox is enabled.
  4. If iTunes is set to only sync selected books, be sure to enable the checkbox next to the PDF you want to sync.
  5. Click Sync.

iTunes can backup your PDF files so they are restored to your iOS device after a software restore, update, or to transfer information to a different device. When you use iTunes 10.1 or later to sync your PDF files to iBooks 1.2 or later on your iOS device, a backup of your PDF will be automatically created. A copy of the PDF will be added to your iTunes Books library.

Printing PDFs in iBooks

To print your PDFs or notes in iBooks, you must have iBooks 1.2 and iOS 4.2 or later installed. 

  1. When viewing your PDF tap on the arrow located in the top menu bar. 
  2. Tap print.
  3. Select a printer, page range, and number of copies. 

For more information about AirPrint please see this article. 

Additional Information

For more information about iBooks and the iBookstore, please see the following articles:

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